Episode 34 - Barley and Beer

An episode of Life Behind Beer

The employees of Iron Horse Brewery take listeners "behind the curtain" on the weekly ups and downs of a regional brewery and spreading the magic of indie beer for a living. Have questions for us about running a brewery? E-mail us atpodcast@ironhorsebrewery.com and we'll answer them on the show!

Wes and Jared meet up with Charlie, Debbie, and Devin from Whipsaw Brewing. They discuss origin stories, create an on-air blend of two beers, dig into some industry news and then reveal a secret about Iron Horse Brewery brewhouse manager, Jake.

Wes, Jared, Nerd Paul, and Morgan talk about Oskar Blue's release of Hard Seltzer and what that means for the market. Trillium Brewing had some public HR issues. PBR and Miller Coors are BFF's again. And the answer the age old question what is the difference between QA and QC.

Wes, Nerd Paul and Jared sample a beer from Deschutes, called humm zinger. They discuss the term craft, dive into what it means to be political and then answer the question: what beer should I drink if I hate carbonation.

In this episode, Greg drives around Ellensburg with a few of the brewery cousins talking about how Iron Horse got its start. The audio isn't great, but the stories give you a true glimpse of life behind beer.

On this episode, Jared, Greg and Wes interview Dr. Jeffrey Ventre, a local doctor, who was with Jim Quilter when he brewed the first batch of Irish Death. Dr. Jeff (as we call him) is probably best known for the documentary BlackFish. They discuss his story, ask a few beer related questions and banter about from the backroom of the pub.

Jared, Wes, Jake, "Nerd Paul" and Morgan discuss the GABF and all its glory. Should breweries submit their beer to juried competitions? They dig into the intricacies of brewing difficult beer, namely Cozy Sweater and answer the question what is a Wheatwine?

Jared, Wes, Greg & Dane drink a "desk aged" beer called Full Clip IPA by Stoneface Brewing out of Newington, NH. They "bro" banter about Algae Bloom, Beer and Wine, Dogfish Head, and Homegrown Brewing. The cousins of Iron Horse also talk about Mocha Death and a sport called Fowling. Word of warning there are few more expletives than normal.

Wes, Jared, Aimee and Special Guests, Lakyn and Nat from the hit band CobraHawk join in on the fun. This week's episode is all about beer and music. At the end of the podcast is one of CobraHawk's hit singles, Hot and Bothered.
CobraHawk's Website >>> www.cobrahawkband.com

Wes, Jared and Greg drink some more local independent beer, talk about the BA Independence campaign, BrewDogs Porn ambitions, and levels of selling out. A little discussion about beer tech and what gets used to make a quality beer.

Jared, Wes and Greg drink their own beer juice, High Five Hefe. Discuss some beer business including, a new documentary about Stone Brewing, Lagunitas craft designation and other articles from Brewbound. They answer the big question: What makes a brewery great?

Like David Byrne on the title track, our hosts ask how did we get here, as in how we got to the beer industry. We rundown such topics as Deschutes move into Virginia and Big Beer's slide into Cannabis beverages. We also debunk frozen glassware and Dark Beer.

The different ways indie breweries are tackling ownership and raising capital that's a little more involved than traditional business and BeerAdvocate's predictions for the future of craft beer and Wes' rebuttal.

Iron Horse Brewery responds to Pete Coors' open letter to the Brewers Association plus the 50 Best New Breweries, and Budweiser taints George Washington's good name. Director of Marketing Jared Vallejo joins in with us.

Sometimes we have more beer than show. So we decided to do some short one beer episodes. This is the first in that series looking at Anchorage Pie Assassin IPA. Note: there is some distortion on this track but seemed still listenable. Issues? E-mail us: podcast@ironhorsebrewery.com

On this episode, Weird Beer Watch: 4/20 Edition, has beer trading gotten out of hand and is ruining the joy of beer, and in honor of Record Store Day on Saturday, what music do you like to drink beer to.

On this episode, we're joined by Kaitlyn van der Velde of Whipsaw Brewing and IHB Director of Optimism Rikki Welz to talk about Women in Beer. We also talk about whether the "post-snob" era of beer is upon us with the flood of easier styles. We finish up with Weird Beer Watch: Easter Edition.

On this episode, we're joined by IHB chief bosshole Greg Parker to talk about Sierra Nevada's return to their flagship Pale Ale and what it's like being a brewery with such a strong flagship product like Irish Death. We also answer your questions!